A. The board of regents of each state educational institution designated in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico that is located within a county having a population in excess of ninety-five thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census may promulgate regulations governing the operation and parking of vehicles on any area within the exterior boundaries of lands under its control which is not a municipal street or highway, including but not limited to:

(1) limiting the rates of speed;

(2) assigning parking spaces, designating parking areas and their uses and collecting rent for them;

(3) prohibiting parking;

(4) removing vehicles parked in violation of campus traffic regulations at the expense of the violator who shall pay the expense before the vehicle is released; and

(5) instituting a system of vehicle registration for the identification and regulation of vehicles regularly using institutional premises, including a reasonable charge to defray costs of providing parking and traffic enforcement services and campus parking.

B. Areas subject to campus traffic regulations shall be marked with signs conforming with standards used by the state highway and transportation department.

C. Regulations of a board of regents promulgated pursuant to this section shall include a specific penalty for each type of violation, which shall not exceed one hundred dollars ($100). In addition, the regents may impose an administrative cost assessment not exceeding five dollars ($5.00) for each parking citation issued as costs of administration of a campus traffic program.

D. Except as provided by Subsection J of this section, unless a warning notice or a parking citation is given, at the time of making an arrest for any violation of this section, the arresting officer shall offer the alleged violator the option of accepting a penalty assessment or appearing in the metropolitan, municipal or magistrate court within five days after issuance of the citation. The violator's signature on the penalty assessment notice constitutes as acknowledgment of guilt of the offense stated in the notice.

E. Payment of any parking violation penalty assessment shall be made by mailing the payment within five days from the date the citation was issued to the university police office for processing in the manner prescribed by the board of regents.

F. Payment of any moving violation penalty assessment shall be made by mailing the payment within thirty days from the date of issuance of the citation to the motor vehicle division of the taxation and revenue department, Santa Fe. Payments of penalty assessments are timely if postmarked within thirty days from the date of issuance of the citation. When a penalty assessment is paid by currency, a receipt may be immediately mailed to the violator. When a penalty assessment is paid by check, the canceled check is a sufficient receipt.

G. No record of any penalty assessment payment is admissible as evidence in any court in any civil action.

H. If a penalty assessment is not paid within thirty days from the date of issuance of the citation, the violator shall be prosecuted for the violation charged on the penalty assessment notice in a manner as if a penalty assessment notice had not been issued.

I. Any penalty assessment collected by the motor vehicle division of the taxation and revenue department pursuant to Subsection F of this section shall be remitted to the state treasurer for deposit into the current school fund. Any administrative cost assessment collected by the division pursuant to this section shall be remitted within thirty days to the state educational institution which issued the citation for administering parking and traffic regulations on that campus. Any penalty assessment or administrative cost assessment collected by the university police office pursuant to Subsection E of this section shall be retained by the state educational institution as reimbursement for its expenses.

J. No penalty assessment citation shall be issued for:

(1) speeding in excess of twenty-five miles an hour in excess of the speed limit;

(2) operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs; or

(3) an offense which has caused or contributed to the cause of an accident resulting in injury or death to any person.

K. The uniform traffic citation form approved by the director of the motor vehicle division shall be used as the complaint for violations of regulations promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section. Citations for moving violations shall be issued in the manner set forth in Sections 66-8-123 through 66-8-127 NMSA 1978.

History: 1978 Comp., § 29-5-1.1, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 304, § 1; 1987, ch. 111, § 1; 1988, ch. 33, § 1; 1989, ch. 59, § 1.

The 1989 amendment, effective March 16, 1989, deleted "within metropolitan court districts" following "institutions" in the section heading; in Subsection A substituted "having a population in excess of ninety-five thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census" for "which has a metropolitan court" in the introductory paragraph; and in Subsection D inserted "municipal or magistrate" in the first sentence.